1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a cooking device using a heat source of microwave, electric heaters or the like for heating/cooking an object placed in a heating chamber.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, cooking devices using microwave and/or electric heaters as a heat source have been widely spread. Cooking devices particularly for professional use are required to perform a comparatively simple operation rapidly, and a plurality of such devices are sometimes stacked for use in order to effectively utilize a limited space for installing them.
In a cooking device, user-friendliness largely depends upon the arrangement of an operation section and operation switches, and hence, the arrangement of them are variously elaborated. As the operation section, a plurality of operation switches are collectively arranged in one portion on the front face of a cooking device body in general, but in some cooking devices, the operation section is arranged on a door thereof in order to improve the operability and/or to largely secure an opening area of a heating chamber thereof.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-12209 discloses a cooking device in which an operation section is provided in a lower portion of a door opening downward and a drive circuit corresponding to a part of a control circuit disposed in a cooking device body and an operation circuit disposed in the door are connected to each other through a control signal wire. When the operation section is provided in the door in this manner, it is indispensable to provide electric wires for sending/receiving a signal and power between the door and the cooking device body in general. It is necessary to dispose the electric wire so as not to be seen by a user and not to disturb opening/closing of the door, and hence, there are a large number of points to be considered in providing the electric wires, including restrictions derived from the opening/closing of the door.
Accordingly, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-48346 discloses a technique in which an inner portion of a laterally opening door and an inner portion of a supporting member not only covering a lower portion of the front face of a cooking device body but also supporting the cooking device body are communicated with each other for inserting an electric wire into the communicated portion from a lower portion of the door to be introduced into the cooking device body through a lower portion of the front face of the cooking device body. In this case, the communicated portion is disposed on the rotating axis of the door, and thus, bend of the electric wire can be reduced although the electric wire is still distorted in opening/closing the door.